Five Below stock rallies 55% in debut

Shares of Five Below, a discount retailer that targets teen shoppers, soared more than 55% Thursday, a day after the company raised $163 million through an initial public offering.

The company's stock opened up more than 50% above its IPO price of $17 and quickly surged more than 73%. Shares of Five Below (FIVE) finished their first trading day at $26.50, still up more than 55% from its IPO price.

The Philadelphia-based retailer, which sells everything from bejeweled iPhone cases to backpacks and basketballs for $5 or less, first opened stores in its hometown in 2002. The company has expanded rapidly across the eastern part of the country, and now operates 199 stores across 17 states. Its goal is to continue spreading, with plans to open 50 stores in 2012. Over 20 years, Five Below expects to have more than 2,000 locations up and running.

During the three-month period that ended April 28, Five Below's same-store sales, a key figure for retailers, jumped more than 10%, as overall revenue grew more than 50%. While the company lost $2 million during the latest quarter, its profit has nearly doubled each year between 2009 and 2011.

Goldman Sachs (GS), Barclays (BCS) and Jefferies (JEF) were the lead underwriters of the offering.

Hibah Yousuf is a reporter at CNNMoney, where she covers stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies trading across the globe, as well as corporate earnings and other markets-related news. Prior to joining the site in 2009, she interned at Money Magazine.